SAM Magazine—Sutton, Que., March 4, 2016—After what appeared to be the beginning of a bidding war for Quebec’s Mont Sutton (see earlier Breaking News story), the company’s board of directors announced it has rejected the offer by the Thirion-Beauregard group and will move forward with the approval process to finalize the initial offer agreed upon with the Ryan Group.

SAM Magazine—Yosemite, Calif., March 1, 2016—The federal government has decided to change the names of several iconic businesses in Yosemite National Park—including Badger Pass Ski Area—rather than risk those businesses getting shut down during a legal battle over trademark rights. The concessionaire that until today had a contract to operate hotels, trail rides, bus service, and more in Yosemite National Park is asking for $51.2 million as “fair value” for trademarked names it has owned since it took over the contract in 1993. The government says the assets are worth $3.5 million.

SAM Magazine—Winchester, N.H., March 1, 2016—After 30 years as executive director of the Cross Country Ski Areas Association (CCSAA), Chris Frado is retiring, effective Oct. 7, 2016. She will be succeeded by current SnowSports Industries America (SIA) nordic director Reese Brown, who is also an elected representative to the CCSAA board of directors.

SAM Magazine—Donner Summit, Calif., March 1, 2016—After going missing on Jan. 14 following an afternoon of skiing with his brother, the body of 23-year-old Sugar Bowl ski instructor Carson May was located Monday afternoon by search and rescue teams in an area about a quarter-mile beyond the resort’s boundaries.

SAM Magazine—Queenstown, New Zealand, March 1, 2016—Jet-setting Mountain Collective pass holders can now add New Zealand to the list of possible destinations next season, thanks to the addition of Coronet Peak and The Remarkables to the multi-destination pass starting in 2016-17. New Zealand is the fourth country to be included on the pass.

SAM Magazine—Davis, W.Va., Feb. 26, 2016—Following a chairlift failure at Timberline Resort (W.Va.), on Saturday, Feb. 20, caused by an entire cross arm sheave train assembly detaching from the top of a lift tower and falling to the ground, resorts nationwide have been inspecting other lifts of similar vintage and design and built by the same manufacturer.

SAM Magazine—Sutton, Que., Feb. 26, 2016—Ten years after the Boulanger family put Mont Sutton, Que., up for sale, an offer to purchase the resort by a group of local investors was approved by the family in late January. In a bit of a dramatic twist, another investment group swooped in yesterday and made public an offer that exceeds the original group’s number—apparently by quite a bit.

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Feb. 24, 2016—If one common thread can be found in reports from various regions of the country, it’s that President’s Week 2016 brought some interesting weather. In some places, lackluster visitation reflected miserable weather conditions; in others, weather was less of a factor.

SAM Magazine—Jackson, Wyo., Feb. 24, 2016—The deadline to vote for your favorite downhill mountain bike park in the “MTBparks.com Best Bike Parks Rider Survey” is drawing near. This annual survey names the top five bike parks in eight different regions across North America.

SAM Magazine—Davis, W.Va., Feb. 22, 2016—Shortly after the Thunderstruck triple chair at Timberline Resort, W.Va., opened on Saturday morning, an entire cross arm sheave train assembly detached from its perch atop a tower and fell to the ground, bringing with it the haul rope and a handful of chairs. Twenty-five people came in contact with the snow as a result, with nine of them experiencing minor injuries. Seven were treated on-site, and two others were transported to a nearby hospital before being released later that day.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Feb. 16, 2016—January was a strong month for Rocky Mountain and Far West mountain destinations, according to a recent report from DestiMetrics. Local and regional visitors are credited with an uptick in bookings, with aggregated occupancy and reservations from November through April up 3.4 percent, and revenues up 4.7 percent compared to the same time last winter.

SAM Magazine—Saint-Sauveur, Que., Feb. 16, 2016—Mother Nature will dictate how much Quebec skiers and riders will pay for an evening lift ticket tonight at Mont Saint-Sauveur. The total ticket price will depend on how much snow accumulates as of 3 p.m. today from the winter storm hitting the area, with the resort planning to charge $1 per centimeter of snow.

SAM Magazine—Denver,  Feb. 16, 2016—Nora Pykkonen, who purchased Echo Mountain Resort in 2012 with plans to develop a private ski racing training facility, has filed for bankruptcy, citing $1.45 million in debt to the resort's top 20 creditors, consisting mainly of $100,000 to $200,000 loans. The mountain continues to operate.

SAM Magazine—Tupper Laker, N.Y., Feb. 16, 2016—During a winter in which lean natural snowfall and mild conditions have made snowmaking a necessity in the East, not having the ability to make snow has officially ended any hopes of opening Big Tupper Ski Area in the Adirondacks for skiing and riding.

SAM Magazine—Boulder, Colo., Feb. 18, 2016—After 13 years in print, SNOWBOARD Magazine will be printed no longer. The company, owned by Storm Mountain Publishing Group, has decided to drop its print version to focus on its digital, social, and custom-content formats.

SAM Magazine—Palmerton, Pa., Feb. 5, 2016—Following a variety of recent capital improvements, Blue Mountain Resort is planning yet another major project—a much-needed lodging property at the summit of the mountain. Described as a “4-star luxury condominium hotel,” the Vista Lodge Residence Club will be the only major lodging property within a 30-minute drive of the resort.

SAM Magazine—Denver, Colo., Feb. 5, 2016—Intrawest Resorts Holdings, Inc. reported a 26.9 percent decrease in skier visits across its mountain properties during the second quarter ending Dec. 31. Revenue across all divisions decreased by $16.9 million, to $104 million,  over the same period, with the challenging start to winter at its Eastern properties clearly the reason for the shortfall.

SAM Magazine—One Hundred Mile House, B.C., Feb. 5, 2016—The recently formed Mountain Playground Group—a consortium of community and independent small ski areas—has added a new member. The non-profit Mt. Timothy, located in the Cariboo Range of British Columbia, became the seventh such operation to join.

SAM Magazine—Manchester Center, Vt., Feb. 5, 2016—The International Skiing History Assn. (ISHA) is honoring several broadcasters, filmmakers, writers, and historians for their achievements during the 24th annual ISHA Awards in Aspen on April 7.

SAM Magazine—Timberline, Ore. Feb. 5, 2016—Registration is now open for the 2016 session of Cutter's Camp—the industry’s longest running gathering of terrain park professionals—which will be held at Timberline, Mt. Hood, Ore., May 9-13.

SAM Magazine—Mammoth Lakes, Calif., Feb. 4, 2016—It’s not every day a guy gets to own a piece of the resort where he learned to snowboard, but then again, Shaun White isn’t your everyday snowboarder. The two-time Olympic gold medalist and San Diego native now owns a minority stake in Mammoth Resorts, which recently acquired Bear Mountain and Snow Summit—the SoCal resorts where White, 29, began riding at age 6.

SAM Magazine—North Conway, N.H., Jan. 28, 2016—The biggest ski town/resort news could just happen at quaint, historical Cranmore Mountain in the coming years. In a group press conference on Wednesday, Boston entrepreneur Joe O’Donnell, along with his partner, the father-son team of Brian and Tyler Fairbank (of Jiminy Peak, Bromley, and Cranmore) detailed a $50 million project and improvement plan that they hope to break ground on this spring.

SAM Magazine—Sutton, QC Jan. 27, 2016—A group of Quebec investors has reached an agreement with the majority shareholders, the Boulanger family, to acquire Ski Sutton Inc., the owner of the Mont SUTTON ski resort. The investors include Jean Michel Ryan, Mont SUTTON’s General Manager, Sylvain Gervais of Enterprises Larry, and Pierre Chesnay, a former member of Uni-Select’s senior management.

SAM Magazine—Reno, Nev., Jan. 27, 2016—After 45 years as majority owner, Fritz Buser, 95, has decided it’s time to sell Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe and retire.

Marketing director Mike Pierce said resort staff was informed of Buser’s intention to put the property up for sale early last week before a statement was released on Saturday.

SAM Magazine—Snowshoe, W.Va., Jan. 25, 2016—The first headline-making winter storm to hit the eastern U.S. started with much fanfare on Friday morning and didn’t end for many until late Saturday night, leaving behind as much as three feet of much-needed snow at many Mid-Atlantic and Southeast ski areas.

While resorts welcomed the glut of snow, the timing of the storm and the sheer volume of it created some immediate operational challenges.

With plentiful snowfall across most of the West this winter, NSAA’s annual winter conference and trade show Jan. 19-21 at Squaw Valley’s Resort at Squaw Creek drew a large and largely upbeat crowd. NSAA reported a total of 660 attendees represented by 79 ski areas and 129 supplier companies.

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 22, 2016—Whistler Blackcomb, Okemo, and Stowe were recognized recently as great places to work. For the fifth consecutive year, Whistler Blackcomb was honored by the editors of “Canada’s Top 100 Employers” in an annual competition that recognizes employers offering the nation's best...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Jan. 22, 2016—The 2016 Assembly, focused on how North American resorts and communities can manage the peaks and valleys of summer visitation and increase visits overall, takes place Jan. 28 at the SIA Snow Show in the Colorado Convention Center. And it’s shaping up as the biggest Assembly yet.

SAM Magazine—Woodbury, Conn., Jan. 22, 2016—Rental World/Backshop, co-hosted by SAM Magazine and SnowSports Industries America (SIA), presents a broad overview of the rental equipment marketplace at the SIA Snow Show in Denver Jan. 28-31. The exhibit includes alpine and snowboard gear, helmets, XC, backshop tools and products, and racking systems.

SAM Magazine—Jackson, Wyo., Jan. 19, 2016— Five independent community ski areas have banded together to form the Mountain Playground Group, a new consortium created by the Mountain Rider’s Alliance to cultivate a viable niche market in small resort skiing by promoting “the authenticity and uniqueness of soulful ski areas,&rd...

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Jan. 19, 2016—Vail Resorts’ most recent acquisition in the Midwest has the Windy City’s estimated 800,000 skiers and riders within close proximity. Wilmot Mountain, Wisc., located 65 miles north of Chicago, is the third Midwest resort in VR’s portfolio. Terms of the acquisition were not ...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Jan. 15, 2016—According to the most recent data released by Denver-based DestiMetrics, as of Dec. 31, actual occupancy and future reservations at Western destination resorts are up 2.5 percent for the season, with revenue up 3.7 percent compared to last winter. DestiMetrics credits strong snowfall in the Rocky Mount...

SAM Magazine—Woodbury, Conn., Jan. 12, 2016—Performance, demo, and backcountry rentals are helping to fuel growth in rental overall, according to a recent survey conducted by SAM Magazine and Snowsports Industries America (SIA). The two organizations combined efforts to survey rental shops regarding trends in equipment and the general r...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Jan. 12, 2016—According to Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA), total skier visits at its 21 member resorts through Dec. 31 were up 10 percent compared to the same period last year. This year’s skier visits also bested the five-year early-season average by 13 percent. CSCUSA attributes the surge in visitation...

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 11, 2015—On Friday, Jan. 8, at 10 a.m., school was in session at more than 160 resorts from New Jersey to Alaska in an attempt to establish a record for the World’s Largest Ski and Snowboard Lesson. While the final tally is still not yet complete, several thousand first-time skiers and riders of all a...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Jan. 6, 2015—SAM's seventh annual Summer Ops Camp, a hands-on educational, networking, and in-park demo event, will head to Park City Sept. 6-8, 2016. The camp gathers resort managers and operators from around North America and overseas to explore opportunities in four-season attractions.

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 6, 2015—For those still waiting to see snow in the East, here’s a message from earlier this week: “Jiminy Peak in western Massachusetts plans to create a massive machine-made blizzard over the next 40 hours that snow-starved skiers and snowboarders will be able to see on NOAA weather radar if...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Colo., Jan. 6, 2016—A 2011 proposal by the U.S. Forest Service to require ski resorts to transfer water rights to the federal government has been abandoned by the agency. Instead, it will require only that resorts prove there is enough water available to support skiing through each permit term. Resorts will have to ...

SAM Magazine—South Lake Tahoe, Calif., Jan. 6, 2016—A carrier traveling on the downhill side of Heavenly Mountain Resort’s North Bowl chairlift detached from the haul rope and fell to the ground on Sunday, Jan. 3 at 10:58 a.m. PST. A total of 65 passengers were taking the lift up, and were evacuated by ski patrol after the lift sh...

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Jan. 6, 2016—It was a tale of two sides. One side was bountiful with business up and deep snow. The other side did not repeat the success of a year ago due to a lack of snow and mild temps. As usual, Mother Nature dictated much of how Christmas week went for resorts across North America. The Western half of t...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Dec. 28, 2015—Stein Eriksen, the legendary alpine skier often credited as a founder of modern skiing, died on Sunday, Dec. 27, at his home in Park City, Utah. He was 88 years old. Erikson’s many accomplishments in competitive alpine skiing include winning Olympic gold in giant slalom and silver in ...

Photo credit: Park City Mountain. SAM Magazine—Denver, Colo., Dec. 23, 2015—Despite prolific snowfall since the beginning of November at western resorts, the most recent Mountain Market Briefing by DestiMetrics—a company that tracks resort performance in mountain destinations—found that early booking patterns are ...

SAM Magazine—Washington, D.C., Dec. 23, 2015—SnowSports Industries America (SIA) is reinventing the SIA Snow Show with an updated format, and shifting it nearly two months earlier. Starting in December 2017, opening day of the event will be the first Tuesday of December, and will follow a shortened, three-day schedule—reduced from...

SAM Magazine—Gaylord, Mich., Dec. 23, 2015—Otsego Club & Resort has appointed Jeff Morrison as its new director of ski operations. Morrison’s responsibilities include overseeing all ski area operations and growing the resort’s summer business. Jeff’s ski industry career began in 1983, when he served as a ski ins...

SAM Magazine—Whistler, B.C., Dec. 23, 2015—Blackcomb has signed an agreement with the Whistler Blackcomb Freestyle Ski Club (WBFSC) and the Canadian Freestyle Ski Association (CFSA) to build a national training center for freestyle skiing on Blackcomb Mountain. The facility will consist of a permanent mogul course, airbag training area,...

SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Dec. 22, 2015—With the reality of this mild start to the winter in much of the eastern half of the continent sinking in, a handful of resorts are embracing it. Operating summer attractions during Christmas week may not be something any resort had in the plan, but Blue Mountain, Ontario, reopened a host of &ld...

SAM Magazine—Park City, Utah, Dec. 16, 2015—By a narrow margin, ski patrollers at Park City voted on Monday to unionize. The preliminary tally was 97-94. The vote means all of the nearly 200 patrollers at the resort—comprising both the Park City base area and Canyons Village base area—will be joining the United Profession...

SAM Magazine—Silverton, Colo., Dec. 9, 2015—Tim Petrick is joining Silverton Mountain Ski Area and Silverton Mountain Guides Alaska Heli with the kickoff of the 2015-16 season. Petrick, most recently president and CEO of K2 Sports, has spent the majority of his career in executive level positions for companies including Powder Magazi...

SAM Magazine—Broomfield, Colo., Dec. 3, 2015—Vail Resorts came out with two major initiatives yesterday, each with the company’s employee base in mind: the EpicPromise Foundation, to support employees’ educational development and general well-being; and an employee housing program. The EpicPromise Foundation is a public c...

SAM Magazine—Campton, N.H., Dec. 3, 2015—Dan Egan, extreme skiing legend and founder of Degan Media, has received the 2016 North American Snowsports Association's (NASJA) Mitch Kaplan Award for Excellence in Snowsports Coverage. The award is presented annually to the journalist whose work and spirit best captures the enthusiasm a...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Dec. 1, 2015—Gerald F. (Jerry) Groswold, longtime head of Winter Park resort and a former board member and chairman of both Colorado Ski Country USA and NSAA, died Nov. 26. He was 84. Jerry was renowned for his involvement with Winter Park Resort, which began in 1939—he carried water as an eight-year-old fo...

Photo credit: sundayriver.com SAM Magazine—Dover, Vt., Dec. 1, 2015—Cold weather settled in just in time for resorts in the Northeast to make enough snow to open for Thanksgiving weekend, with 18 different areas kicking things off between Nov. 24 and Nov. 28. Most had limited terrain compared to the same time a year ago, when...

SAM Magazine—Sheridan, Wyo., Dec. 1, 2015—The Antelope Butte Foundation (ABF), a non-profit organization dedicated to reopening Antelope Butte Ski Area, has received two significant donation commitments for its project to resurrect the facility, which has not operated in a decade. Jan Allen of Cosner Construction confirmed a $213,000...

SAM Magazine—Hunter, N.Y., Nov. 30, 2015—Peak Resorts has entered into an agreement to purchase Hunter Mountain, located in the Catskill Mountains of New York, for cash consideration of $35 million plus the assumption of two capital leases estimated at approximately $1.8 million. Hunter Mountain generates approximately $27 million (unau...

SAM Magazine—Denver, Nov. 19, 2015—Despite a relatively warm start to the fall, recent snowstorms out West and snowmaking conditions in the East have a number of resorts opening for the season just ahead of Thanksgiving weekend. Colorado has seen multiple snow storms roll through in the past week, giving many areas the base needed to...

SAM Magazine—Boston, Mass., Nov. 17, 2015—David Ingemie, president of Snowsports Industries America (SIA), was presented with the 30th annual BEWI Award during a luncheon in his honor on Nov. 13 at the Seaport World Trade Center on Boston Harbor. BEWI Productions president Bernie Weichsel, the award’s namesake, called David &ld...

Photo credit: www.tellurideskiresort.com. SAM Magazine—Telluride, Colo., Nov. 16, 2016—The Telluride Ski Patrol, which formed a union under the umbrella of the Communications Workers of America (CWA) last February, ratified its first union contract on Nov. 9 by a 50-1 vote. The three-year deal addressed several of the concer...

SAM Magazine—Truckee, Calif., Nov. 12, 2015—With storm totals in California being measured in feet, the ski and snowboard season is getting off to its best start in years on the West Coast. Nationwide, a number of resorts are already open and more are kicking things off, starting yesterday. Lake Tahoe has received more than two feet ...

SAM Magazine—Saint-Sauveur, Quebec, Nov. 9, 2015—For the first time in the competitive atmosphere of the Quebec ski industry, two major players are teaming to offer a joint season pass. Ski Bromont and Mont Saint-Sauveur have created the Option Northeast, which gives anyone purchasing a season pass at either resort the opportunity to ad...

SAM Magazine—Fairfield, Idaho, Nov. 6, 2015—Matt and Dianne McFerran, a couple from Bend, Ore., are the new owners of Solider Mountain. More than 2,100 people had inquired about the resort, which was put up for sale on Oct. 14 at the price tag of $149,000, the amount of money the non-profit area owed to the bank. The McFerrans will b...